Lawmaker: More than 200 new laws adopted, none tackle Illinois’ major issues

More than 200 new laws will go into effect in Illinois in the new year, but do any of them deal with the major fiscal problems the state’s been struggling with for years?

For most of 2017, state Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, didn’t vote for legislation that wasn’t going to solve some of the major issues facing the state.

“We passed bills that talk about things like how we label fish on a menu,” Batinick said. “I think we named two expressways after former President [Barack] Obama. We debated whether or not you need to paint a school bus after you sell it on the used market. But we didn’t address pensions. We didn’t do anything good for work comp. We didn’t do anything good for property taxes.”

Illinois has more than $200 billion in unfunded pension and retiree healthcare liability. The state also has some of the highest property taxes in the country and he highest workers’ compensation rates in the Midwest.

Batinick also noted Illinois’ regulatory climate is horrible and used hydraulic fracturing permitting as an example.

“We finally gave away our first permit, and the regulatory climate was still so bad that the company just walked away from it,” Batinick said.

Batinick doesn’t expect the legislature to tackle any of this until after the November elections.

“We already blew three years of [the Rauner] administration,” Batinick said. “And you can say we blew years before that, so every day that passes makes it harder for us to dig out of a deeper pile of debt.”

The suburban lawmaker hopes that, after the election, both sides can come together to tackle the state’s major issues.

That’s probably a bad idea

The government may soon resume funding for research aimed at creating super germs that could cause pandemics in research laboratories.

That’s according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ new framework for funding research.

The government cut funding for such research back in October 2014, as researchers were working on ways to make three deadly viruses stronger: the flu, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Here’s more from Stat News:

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said the new policy didn’t represent a significant shift, since the NIH has continued to assess and fund some gain-of-function experiments even during the moratorium. Such studies will continue to be vetted by a federal panel before they can receive funding.

But the decision to lift the moratorium did not sit well with scientists who have long warned of the risks of such research — and questioned its benefits.

“I am not persuaded that the work is of greater potential benefit than potential harm,” said molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University, who has argued that U.S. labs working with dangerous pathogens regularly suffer serious biosafety lapses. Experiments to create enhanced viruses, he and others argue, could lead to the pathogens’ accidental release, most likely by a lab worker becoming infected unknowingly and then walking out the door.

“A human is better at spreading viruses than an aerosol” that might breach a lab’s physical containment, said epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who has calculated that the risk of a lab-acquired infection sparking a pandemic is greater than recognized. “The engineering is not what I’m worried about. Accident after accident has been the result of human mistakes.”

At some point, neighbors heard her screams and came to help. Her attacker – described as a Somali man in his early 20s, about 5-foot-7 with a slight build and wearing grey stone-washed jeans – ran away.

Evenson was left bleeding on the curb with 14 stab wounds on her arms, neck and back. Her kidney was lacerated. She was lucky to survive the attack.

It happened while she was walking home from the Apple Store, where she worked, about eight blocks away from her apartment. That’s when the man attacked her for no apparent reason. Police, who have not made any arrests in the case, are calling it a botched robbery.

Police have called the case unusual for the level of brutality just to get a woman’s purse, leading some to wonder if the assailant didn’t want more than just a purse.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the city’s largest newspaper, has been AWOL on the story.

The newspaper’s on-duty news editor, Maria Reeve, did not return WND’s calls Tuesday to inquire about why it went dark on such a brutal, unprovoked attack on a defenseless, unarmed woman walking home from work.

Other media, such as the Southwest Journal, have reported on the crime but left out the assailant’s full description as a Somali migrant.

Only one media outlet, local ABC News affiliate KSTP, included in its on-air coverage the fact that the victim described her assailant as Somali, but the station’s website article failed to mention that fact.

A friend of Evenson’s started a GoFundMe page to raise money for uncovered medical costs.

The page said Evenson was readmitted to the hospital Dec. 19 to monitor a recurring fever and blood pressure.

As of Tuesday afternoon the GoFundMe page had raised more than $15,000 for uncovered medical bills.

No isolated case

The case of Morgan Evenson continues a pattern of Somali crimes being covered up, downplayed, lightly investigated and eventually falling off the radar in Minnesota.

Here are just some of the Somali-related cases in Minnesota that never seem to get resolved.

Justine Damond, 40, was killed in July after calling police to report a sexual assault in progress in the ally next to her home in Minneapolis’s 5th precinct. Two officers arrived in a squad car, and the one sitting in the passenger seat, Officer Mohamed Noor, fired across his partner at Damon when she approached the police car in her nightgown.
No formal charges have yet been brought against Noor, who was precinct’s first Somali refugee to be hired as a cop, a fact that Mayor Betsy Hodges had bragged about in her city newsletter.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman was recorded earlier this month telling a gathering of union members that he was frustrated at a lack of evidence to charge Noor.
Freeman has since apologized for his remarks, saying they were “ill-advised”, and promised more details on the “status of our charging decision” in the coming days. Relatives of Damond said last week they were concerned her death was not being investigated properly.

For three straight days in late June 2016, residents of Linden Hills neighborhood on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis were terrorized by a group of more than a dozen Somali men in their early- to mid-20s. Several of the men threatened to rape a female resident of the community, saying it was their right under Shariah law, while others drove their cars over neighbors lawns shouting “jihad,” set off bottle rockets, and pretending to shoot people on the beach. The Minneapolis police were repeatedly called, but every time they responded too late to make any arrests, and the investigation never resulted in any arrests. The story was carried by one local TV station and ignored by the newspapers.

In 2014 a mysterious New Year’s Day explosion occurred at a building containing several apartments and a grocery store in the heavily-Somali area of Cedar Riverside, Minneapolis. According to a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, the city fire department requested that the federal ATF not investigate the explosion, which killed three people, and the investigation has never come to an official conclusion on the cause. All of the apartments were occupied by Somali residents.

In April 2017 WND reportedon the presence of “Shariah cops” patrolling the streets of Cedar Riverside, making uninvited visits to the homes of local Somalis to make sure they were living in compliance with Sharia, requiring appropriate attire for women and minimal contact between unmarried members of the opposite sexes. Police said they were “monitoring” the situation but made no arrests, even though they knew the identity of the lead suspect, Abdullah Rashid, and had complaints from local Muslims about Rashid and his cohorts harassing them.

In August 2017, someone threw a low-grade incendiary device into a window at the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. The device was thrown into the imam’s office through a window at a time when the imam was not there. No one was hurt. Gov. Mark Dayton and local CAIR officials immediately labeled the incident an anti-Muslim “hate crime,” despite not having any evidence to tie the attack to an anti-Muslim person or group. No arrests have been made, but the mosque has raised thousands of dollars of sympathy money off the incident.

In November 2017, a Somali man carried out a bloody knife attack against two brothers in the changing room of a clothing store at Mall of America. The police and local media described the incident as a botched robbery in which the two brothers were attacked after trying to stop the Somali from shoplifting. WND has since been told by a friend of the family that the narrative put out by the media was not accurate, that the attack was completely unprovoked and random.

Debra Anderson, chair of ACT For America’s Minnesota chapter, said she has been trying for four years, without success, to get Minnesota sheriffs to train their departments to better prepare and deal with Sharia-related crime such as FGM, honor violence and terrorism.

She said it was telling that no police response was recorded in the stabbing attack on Morgan Evenson. Her life was only saved because she fought back and her screams were heard by people living and working in the area.

“It was interesting the articles I read didn’t say anything about the police coming. Not a thing. Just sounds like the classic media template used in Europe,” Anderson told WND. “You had to get all the way through that KSTP [broadcast only] report to find out he’s Somali, and it was never mentioned in the other media outlets at all.”

That’s very disconcerting for someone who has been trying to educate Minnesotans about the pitfalls of kowtowing to the Somali community and its “civil rights” advocates at CAIR.

“It’s unofficial but Minnesota law enforcement agencies are enforcing, or at least tolerating, Shariah law. Most people don’t know it yet but the police are not here to protect the indigenous Minnesotans anymore,” Anderson said. “They have been incrementally changing their search policies and their use of force policies for years. We’re not being protected anymore. They’re protecting the Muslims, so it’s becoming increasingly like Europe. Yes, it’s here now.”

A friend of Evenson’s started a GoFundMe page to raise money for uncovered medical costs.

The page said Evenson was readmitted to the hospital Dec. 19 to monitor a recurring fever and blood pressure.

As of Tuesday afternoon the GoFundMe page had raised more than $15,000 for uncovered medical bills.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/12/u-s-woman-stabbed-14-times-by-somali-migrant-media-go-dark/#DIroeHFY6x8EfJPs.99

Steve Balich Editor Note: It is illogical to welcome illegals to our State that put a huge strain on our system, schools, medical, crime, etc. Then Our Governor gives free abortions to everyone being the only State in the Union to do so. Illinois is Broke and the Governor keeps adding expense. I think the Governor is a smart man, so my question is why?

(December 26, 2017 – Springfield, IL) The Thomas More Society has now moved for an emergency injunction to be heard on Thursday, December 28, to stop State of Illinois officials from providing tens of thousands of taxpayer funded abortions in the New Year. Additional legislators and groups will also seek to join the suit that day, including State Representative Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) and State Senator Neil Anderson (R-Rock Island). The taxpayer lawsuit, filed at the end of November in the Sangamon County Circuit Court, is brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Illinois taxpayers, represented by county and statewide pro-life organizations, the Springfield Catholic Diocese, and a group of Illinois legislators from across the state.

“This emergency injunction would stop a New Year’s Day implementation of this law, under which Illinois taxpayers would be forced to pay for 20,000 to 30,000 or more abortions per year,” explained Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Special Counsel. “Even apart from the sincere moral objections that many folks have to paying for abortions, there is no money in the Illinois state budget to pay for them. And, because of games played by Senate Democrats, in holding HB 40 until late September, after the May 31 cutoff for legislative action, this bill can’t be effective until June 1, certainly not on January 1.” Breen also serves as state representative for Illinois’ 48th District.

If implemented, despite its illegality, HB 40 would force every Illinoisan to pay for free abortions for those on Medicaid. This would apply through the full nine months of pregnancy and for any reason, even when the latest scientific research has shown that the unborn child can feel pain and survive outside of its mother’s womb.

The State of Illinois has a tradition of allowing taxpayer lawsuits, which are brought by private individuals to protect the public treasury. Illinois law requires such a suit to be brought by a petition for leave to file a taxpayer complaint, which was granted by Judge Ascher on December 6, at the last hearing in this case.

WHAT: Hearing on HB 40 lawsuit, Springfield Right to Life et al v. Felicia Norwood et al, where Plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against HB 40 and Defendants are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. Following the hearing, attorneys from the Thomas More Society will be available for comment.

The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago and Omaha, the Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, visit thomasmoresociety.org.

Chicago politician wants foreign troops to take on city’s violence

President Donald Trump hinted earlier this year that he’d like to get the National Guard involved in taking on street violence in Chicago. As bad an idea as it is, Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin just made one that’s worse.

Boykinsays he’s in talks with the United Nations to investigate the possibility of sending troops to Chicago for a peacekeeping mission.

He met Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the UN’s assistant secretary-general for peace-building support, in New York last week to discuss the plan.

“The United Nations has a track record of protecting minority populations,” Boykin told reporters before the meeting. “There was tribal warfare between the Tutsis and the Hutus in Africa, and they deployed peacekeeping troops there to help save those populations and reduce the bloodshed. We have to do something — black people in Chicago make up 30 percent of the population but 80 percent of those who are killed by gun violence.”

Asked to clarify whether he was actually advocating inviting foreign military personnel to patrol U.S. territory, the lawmaker said: “I’m talking about whoever the U.N. would decide to send in … I think that the assistant secretary-general may have some ideas outside of sending in troops. He may have some ideas about how we get to peace in these communities.”

“We can’t wait for the mayor to put another 1,000 police officers on the streets, and I’m not so sure that’s going to be the panacea, anyhow,” he added.